Mirror rorriM
by CastleCloak4462
Summary: Mirrors are powerful. Quite a lot of lore agrees on this. Whether breaking one is bad luck, or there's a different world on the other side, they are capable of a lot. Now, while she is a huge fan of fantasy stories, Caryn Elliston thinks this is a load of BS. It makes no sense when you look at the real world. Until she gets transported to a new world through a mirror. then
1. Chapter One

"That sounds like a horrible idea. Let's do it and see how it goes." Kristolyn Piper said, talking to her best friend, Gwen Kersey. "First prank of the new year, right?"

Kris, although not like to get in trouble, certainly had a talent for it. She and Gwen loved to pull pranks on their friends. And that sometimes included getting detention. Because they set up balloons in the auditorium, to fall on the drama kids. The day before their dress rehearsal. Charlie, aka Ms. Beverly but nobody called her that (by request of Charlie), was ready to kill them. And the two girls got detention for the rest of that week. It was definitely worth it.

The shorter girl nodded. "Think Allison is gonna kill us for this?"

"Probably," Kris replied and chuckled, pulling her curly brown hair back into a ponytail. "If her girlfriend doesn't kill us first."

"She and Jade finally got together?"

"I wish." she scoffed. "No, I think Allison is head over heels from that one guy on the football team."

"You mean your brother?" Gwen asked and Kris facepalmed.

"Yes, I mean Flynn. Now shut up and help me tie this, will you?" She said, with slight annoyance. Allison's crush on Flynn drove her crazy. Half the time she felt as if she was being used for her to get closer to him. And the other half, she was hanging out with Troy, just to get to the airhead of a brother Kris had. He was an idiot, and Allison deserved someone a little smarter. Sometimes she was debating if she only liked him because she thought he was hot…

Or, rather, there was more to Allison that she saw. She didn't talk to her, much, unless it came to choreography for the school shows matching time with the music. She, more hung out with Gwen, where Allison, Carson, Darren, and Troy were their own tight-knit group. And the Allison had a few friends on the soccer team with the help of her childhood friend, Jade Bradbury.

Gwen tapped her shoulder, pulling Kris out of her thoughts. The 'butterfly' was ready. Popsicle sticks, hot glue, a paper clip, and some paper was all it took. Twist the rubber band, put it in the card and seal it.

"And I say again. Think Allison is gonna kill us?" The blonde girl asked, and Kris nodded.

They had staged the prank to make it look like a Valentine's Day card was from Flynn, and had a 'heartfelt' note on the front. Then she would open the card and see the crazy butterfly-type-thing fly out at her. With a message in the comic-book font: 'February fools!', and their names at the bottom. Even if it gets you murdered, you still have to take credit for a good prank; it's the rules of a good prank.

"Definitely."

"Miss Caryn Elliston!"

The shrill voice of her math teacher woke Caryn up from her writing-daydream. She didn't even seem to write the words anymore. But imagine the scene, and watch the pages become filled with lead or ink. And then her hand cramps up a lot.

"Yes, Miss Herbert?" Caryn asked, sitting up a bit straighter and blowing her bright red hair away from her hazel eyes. Unfortunately, it fell back down, so she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Which also looked as if it was going to fall out, from how ratty it looked.

"What do you think you're doing?" The piercing sharp voice of her math teacher asked, irked with the student. It wasn't Caryn's fault that she was always falling asleep in her most boring class, first-period math. It had never been a talent of hers; math sucked. The writing was easier for her. And her best friend's mom was her French teacher, so she kinda had to like that class. Mrs. Attwood was awesome!

Caryn shrugged, hoping to god she wasn't getting detention from this. It was May, she was so close to going a month without it... "Waking up, ma'am. Late night for homework. And I didn't understand-"

"Then I suggest you pay attention, young lady. There's a test next week."

"Yes, ma'am--"

Just then, the bell rang and Caryn sighed. "Dismissed! And study tonight!" Miss Herbert said as the class rushed out the door.

"Elliston!" Caryn heard from behind her and turned to see a short redhead running up to her. Of course, it was her best friend, Cassie LeClare, barreling down the hallway to meet up with her.

"Hey, Cassie," Caryn said as Cassie laced her arm through her. It was a natural habit, at this point, considering how close they had grown in the past few years. "What's up with drama? The show's next week, right?"

"Yeah, tech week is scary. And Mentis is freaking out because Mitch lost his script and isn't off book yet."

Caryn chuckled. "That guy is an idiot sometimes, isn't he?"

"Definitely," Cassie replied. "Speaking of, though, where is he?" They had reached the commons, where she, Mitch and Caryn always met up to go to their next classes together.

"She's back today with Adonis, I'm pretty sure--

Caryn felt a bit of freezing water run down her back and made a tiny "squeak!" noise. "What the--MITCHELL ATTWOOD!"

A loud giggle was heard behind the two, and Cassie whirled, making sure he couldn't do the same to her.

The girls heard his obnoxious laughter, above all the chatter in the hallways. "Gotcha!"

Caryn spun around and shoved his shoulder. "I don't like you!"

"You love me. Everyone loves me."

"Tell that to Phoenix Traversy, the girl you're in looooooveeee with." Cassie teased, and ran off to the next class, knowing her friends would follow after her.

"I don't like her!" he persisted, despite the flaming red blush that had darkened all around his face. He ran after Cassie immediately, knowing that the bell was going to ring soon.

"Whatever," Caryn added and chuckled. She chased her two best friends to the other end of the hall, down the stairs, and into their next class.

At the end of the day, the three gathered back in their homeroom classes for progress reports. And locker cleanout, but that's less important. Being that Caryn wasn't the most organized, she had to spend quite a while working on it. With the help of Cassie from across the hall.

That wasn't the bad part, unfortunately. It was actually getting the progress reports. It was scary, really. Caryn knew she was smart, and so did her mother. She had been getting worse with grades since her dad died. The last month or so of Freshman year was the worst, but Sophomore she got back up to a B average... In regular classes, rather than honors, CP or AP level.

"Mom is going to kill me," Caryn mumbled as she walked out to Cassie's car. Her core classes were a B or a B, but her reading class was an A. Solid. Which meant that she could definitely do better in the others, but chose not to.

It was a pretty crappy car, and more orange-rust than red like it was supposed to be, but no one complained. They didn't have to ride the bus anymore. An old Chevy Camaro, which was Cassie's mom, Treasa, when she was younger.

Mitch hopped in the back, with Cassie driving and Caryn claiming shotgun. "What'd you guys end up with?" Caryn asked, hoping to relieve some of her mental stress.

Mitch shrugged. "Mostly B's, a few A's. Not bad. Wasn't expecting anything more than that, really. Mom's mad cause I don't have an A in her class, even though I'm basically fluent in French. I mean, I have to be able to carry a conversation with grand-mère and grand-père."

Cassie scoffed. "Mom likes to rant in Gaelic, even though most people don't even speak it over there anymore. I learned pretty quickly."

"I speak fluent sarcasm," Caryn added, which made Mitch laugh.

"Yes, yes you do," he smirked and Cassie rolled her eyes, continuing the conversation.

"Mom stopped caring, so I stopped caring about school a while ago." She replied.

"I call BS on that. You always get A's."

"True." Cassie shrugged. "You're right, I got A's."

Caryn groaned. "Screw you and your genius-ness."

"You just have to find something to relate it to, and it'll be easier. Mitch, you do that with drama, right?" Mitch nodded, and she continued. "I do it with dance. Not that I enjoy it, but it's something I know. And a little bit of drama, too."

Caryn nodded. "I can try that, I guess."

Cassie looked back in the mirror, and Mitch had his earbuds it, so she continued. "I know it's rough. I lost my dad when I was a kid." She grabbed Caryn's hand and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm here for you. I know it's been a bit less than two years, but it doesn't go away for a while. Trust me, I know."

"Thanks, Cassie.."

"Any time, love."

Loving, adorable, amazing Cassie. Caryn was jealous. She seemed to have her life together all the time, which really sucked considering that she didn't. Whatsoever. Maybe that was her being competitive again, though. Ever since they met, Caryn had always been just barely ahead of Cassie in everything. Now, she was thriving and doing amazing in school, while Caryn was trying to keep her head above water.

When Caryn got home, she knew she was screwed. And grounded. Or both.

Her mother was sitting on the couch, right leg over the other and watching the door, patiently. "So," she said when Caryn walked in.

"So," Caryn repeated and internally groaned. "Progress reports came in today."

"So I heard. Can I see it?"

"If you have to," she mumbled and handed it over. "Don't kill me, please."

"It's better than the last quarter." Her mother replied, and her expression softened. "Still not where you used to be."

"I know.." Caryn sighed and sat next to her on the couch. "I know it seems like I'm being a baby about dad. But father's day is in a few weeks and his birthday was last week and you know that I was a bit closer with him than you-"

Her mom wrapped her arm around Caryn's shoulders. "I know, sweet pea. I know. We have to keep going, though, yeah?"

"No, you don't know," Caryn said, with annoyance. Maybe it was that she had a rough day, or that she was stressed, but she was extra snippy, especially at the moment. "Things are different than when you were in school, Mom. And I love you, but you don't seem to understand that, no matter how much I try to explain it to you!"

The entire family was hot-headed and had a quick temper. Which was great when they got into fights. And since there was no longer a buffer, arguments seemed to happen a lot more often.

"What I understand, young lady." Merylyn (her mother) said with an eerily calm tone, that Caryn knew was the angriest she got. Unless her buttons were pushed, of course. "Is that you need to check your tone. And go do your homework."

"Fine. not like I wanted to talk anyway." Caryn mumbled and grabbed her bag, snatching the report card out of her mother's hands, and walking back to her room.

Caryn never learned how to deal with her emotions well. What teenager does? But, she usually wrote. It was her absolute favorite pastime, and her friends would admit that she's good at it. Or the small number of people that read her tiny section in the school newspaper.

There was one other way, that was a lot less productive and much more...aggressive, you could say. Which it happened to be destroying her room and then cleaning it again.

Which, she went to the second option.

By the time she was almost calmed down, her room was a mess. She knew not to break, anything, though; she wasn't that stupid.

"Caryn Eveline Elliston!" Her mother's yell came from out in the kitchen. "Your room better be clean by the time you go to bed!"

"I will!" Caryn replied bitterly and threw her pillow back on her bed. Tried to, at the least. Unfortunately, she hit the floor length mirror, leaning against the wall.

"Son of a bitch..." Caryn grumbled, seeing it broke. What happened next, though, she was completely confused about. A blue-gray-purple mist arose, swirling around the shards. Being a teenager with horror movie logic, she reached out to touch it...

With a shock of the same colored light, Caryn disappeared.


	2. Chapter Two

"Sammy!" Darren groaned, rolling off of his bed. His yellow lab, Sammy, had decided to shove him off when his alarm started to go off, just for the fact that he was hungry.

"You know, I don't like you very much." He mumbled, and the 3-year-old puppy whimpered. "I'm just kidding. I love you."

That phrase invited puppy kisses and fetch for the next five minutes until a knock came to his door. "Darren, come on, you have school!"

"Yeah, yeah, Adonis, whatever," Darren replied, and rifled through his closet for clothes. Black jeans, black AC/DC shirt, leather jacket with a mini sketchbook and small pencils in the pocket.

Darren looked nothing like his sophomore (in college) brother. Raven black hair, and large, round, brown eyes. Nearly black, which matched his usual attire. Adonis, on the other hand, was your typical surfer-boy-hottie, even though he didn't act it. Reminded him a lot of a character he had read a book about sometimes. Some realistic fiction stuff. The main character was pretty stupid, really and it was pretty depressing in some parts…

Anyways, grab a granola bar on the way out the door, Darren and Adonis left for the younger of the two to go to school.

School was...usually interesting. To Darren, at least. Decently intriguing, but only because of the drama. Or the 'tea' as Kris and Troy called it. It seemed to him that almost everyone got a new significant other every week. And tried to work their way up the social hierarchy.

Except for him and his friends. They seemed to be below the Emos and Goths and Scenes. They had nicknamed themselves the 'misfits'. Through the years, being that that's what they were, really.

"Hey, asshole." Said someone from behind him as he attempted to walk into school unnoticed. Darren immediately tensed, but as he realized who it was, relaxed. The same old french accent he had been hearing for the past five years; same amazing best friend.

"Hey, Allison." he chuckled at the nickname and Allison sighed.

"That's not what you're supposed to say…"

"You'll live, I promise. Where're all the other ones?"

"Well, Gwen and Kris aren't talking to us, per usual, and Troy and Carson are in the cafeteria. If you'd check your phone once in a while, I'd guess you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"You see, Allison," he started with a cocky smirk. "I'd challenge you to a battle of wits, this morning, but I see you come unarmed."

"Come on, Avril Lavigne, let's just get inside."

"Avril Lavigne?"

"Skater Boy?" Allison shrugged. "Her first album came out in 2002." She said in a very matter-of-fact voice.

"Nerd."

A minute or so later, the five friends met up by the side of the school, sitting at a yellow picnic table outside.

"Hey, Darren! Allison." Troy said as the two sat at the table. "How's Adonis doing?"

"Why, got a crush, Winfield?" Darren mocked.

Troy shrugged. "Only 2 years older than me, and he's hot as f--"

"Language, man!" Kris said quickly and covered her younger friend's, Gwen, ears with her hands. "We have little ears present!"

"Oh, screw off, Krissy, you're older than me by a month." She mumbled through a yawn. "I haven't had enough coffee for this yet."

"You're 14, kid," Allison added. "Don't kill yourself on caffeine."

"Either way, we all wanna die, don't we?" Kris asked, and everyone laughed. "I love Gen Z humor…"

A new person walked over, sitting down next to Allison, at the end of the table. Disheveled red hair to bring out his jade green eyes, with a lean but tall build.

He dropped all his books and papers on the table, most of them scattering. Quite a few things fell before he could actually set them down.

"Carson, what happened?" Allison asked, helping him organize his things again.

"Andy sent her minions after me again," he mumbled miserably. "Drives me crazy. I'm fine, though; they only punched me once."

"Names," Darren said immediately, standing, and Troy had to push him back down into the chair.

"Darren, no." He said, and Carson sat down next to Allison, as they finished putting his things away. "You don't need yet another detention."

"If Carson's still getting beat up, then I want to--"

"Punching someone isn't going to help," Carson spoke up. "I'll be ok."

"Cuss them out but don't get physical," Kris muttered to Darren and he nodded.

"I like that idea."

"What idea?"Allison asked, and both Darren and Kris shook their heads.

"Nothing." the freshman said quickly. "No idea."

"Whatever…" Troy mumbled. "You're alright, though, Carson?"

"I'll live, thank you."

Something about the way that Carson smiled at Troy when he said that unnerved Darren. He tried to convince himself, he's just jealous because he and Carson had been closed for so long. And he loved the feeling of protecting someone...and with Troy there, he couldn't as often anymore.

Perfect Troy Winfield, always in the way. Darren loved the guy, he really did. They had been friends for years, but it always seemed he got in the way of everything. With his stupid sky blue eyes and moronic smile to make any girl swoon. Or gay guy...like Carson. Which really made him mad.

"I'll see you guys later," Darren said when the bell rang for them to leave and go to classes. He loved everyone with his heart and soul, really, but sometimes being with them was a real pain in the ass.

He stood and headed around the corner, towards the front of the building.

"He alright?" He heard from Carson as he left.

"Dunno," Allison added. "Seemed happier this morning…"

Darren heard them continue to talk as he headed out to his locker, going to text (or possibly call) his brother.

Darren: Hey, you're leaving tmrw, right?

He sent, hoping that he would have some time to talk.

Adonis: Yeah, what's wrong? you don't text me unless you're upset and don't wanna talk to Allison about it

Darren: Can you call?

Adonis: Yeah, I've got you

Darren sighed and hit the answer buttons when he saw Adonis's name pop up on the screen. "Hey."

"School hasn't even started yet, now what's wrong?" Adonis asked flatly and Darren hesitated, hoping no one was around.

"You know what I told you the other day?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I think it's kinda coming into play," Darren mumbled, and Adonis gasped.

"Holy—really? Aww, can I know—"

"No, I'll tell you when I get home. Not now. And you sound like Hannah and Kacey."

"Yeah, well, she's my best friend. So one would expect. Also, you're holding back, man, I can tell. What happened? Full story."

"Andy sent her minions after Carson. Pushed his books around, probably shoved him into a locker…"

"Oh, Damn…" Adonis mumbled. "I know her older brother, Luke. I'll see if next time he's home they can talk about that, cause Carson's a sweet kid. I didn't know it was that bad, otherwise, I would've said something already."

"Yeah, thank you."

"You sound upset, though. Is it just you're frustrated or did something else happen?"

"That's it. If anything else happens, I'll let you know."

"Sounds good. Want me to pick you up today?"

"Yeah, please."

"Alright. See ya, kid."

"I'm not a-" Darren heard the three beeps, saying that Adonis had hung up. "Kid." he finished and sighed. "Today is gonna be great…"

Well, he was right. That day totally sucked. A lot.

2 quizzes in English, unit tests in both Science and Math, and the final in history/civics. Which was outright torture?

Thank god, though, he had study hall during 7th period in the library. Mrs. Winfield was the amazing librarian, who also happened to be Troy's mom.

"Hey, Mrs. Winfield." He said as he walked into the library, knocking on the doorway to the small back office. "Need any help with anything?"

The small woman looked out from behind a stack of book on the counter, well over her head. "Oh, yes, if you don't mind!" she said cheerily and nodded.

Before the books could fall on her head, he grabbed half of them and set them in a nearby box. "It looked like the leaning tower of Pisa." He smirked and Mrs. Winfield chuckled.

"Well, I think you, Darren. Do you want to scan some books in for me?"

"Of course." he nodded and left the office, heading over to the desk with the bright red check-in box next to it.

The library was...amazing. It was peaceful and colorful, plenty of inspiration for a new sketch.

Darren was an artist and hated the class. He usually drew more outside things, like a few trees or a sunset. But the library had loads of different colors, pictures, displays, bulletin boards. Mrs. Winfield loved to keep everything decorated with things kids would make for her. Snowflakes and confetti hung from the ceiling, with a tv that played book trailers.

After a while of putting away books, talking to Mrs. Winfield, and drawing, the bell rang. Darren went back to his locker, grabbed his stuff and headed out to his brother's car.

"Hey, baby bro, how'd school go today?" He asked and Darren groaned. "That good, huh?"

"Finals, tests, quizzes, you name it. Plus why I called you earlier."

"Yeah, how's that working out for you?"

"Terrible. Probably gonna go on a walk when I'm done with my homework…"

"Aww, don't you wanna spend time with your big brother who loves you so much?"

"The one who cursed me out yesterday because I 'sent Sammy after you when you were packing to go back'?"

"You did."

"No, I didn't. And the fact that you care so much about not getting dog hair on your clothes, shows that you really are a stereotypical gay guy."

"Yknow what?" Adonis asked and rolled his eyes. "That's a compliment. Thank you."

"You're an idiot." Darren snickered and his brother shrugged in response.

"Love you too, baby bro."

"I'm seventeen!"

"I'm twenty. You're a baby."

"Peaceful, isn't it, Sammy?" Darren asked his dog as they walked. The two were out in the woods behind his house, strolling along the trail he had learned to follow over the past year.

The dog made a small 'ruff' noise in confirmation, walking around Darren in circles. The little security in his community didn't mind unleashed dogs, as long as they didn't mess with anyone.

"I know. Everything is boring, anymore. At least it's not like in those books we have to read for school. Now those are boring." He asked with a sigh. "I like it out here, though. Don't you?"

The dog seemed to nod, and walked over to a tree, sitting in the shade. Darren agreed: walking in the sun covered head to toe in black clothes, or in his case, fur was no fun at all. He crawled up in a tree, pulled out his pocket sketchbook and pencil, and started to draw.

Sammy stood and started barking after a while, causing Darren to look up.

In the distance, was a bluish-gray tinted light. More of a fog, really. The color was pretty, he decided, but it was extremely odd to see it in the middle of the woods.

"Hey, Sammy, let's head home, ok?" Darren asked the dog, jumping down, and out of the tree.

The dog ran off, Darren chasing him through the forest. Unfortunately, it was towards the smoky light.

Darren crept closer, now curious about it. A woman with a black cloak stood in the fog, staring at a mirror that floated by an adjacent tree trunk. She was muttering in some sort of foreign language. It was definitely not something taught in his high school.

"What the hell…?" he mumbled, seeing the fog start to swirl around the person in a spiral. The wind blew around, making Darren squint. Sammy was still, sitting and staring in the same direction.

The glass in the mirror shattered, and everything stopped. The wind, the fog…

Darren looked around by the tree he had hidden behind. All around and through the air was minuscule shards of the destroyed glass. Suddenly, they all flew back to the mirror and disappeared through it.

Like before, a fog came out of the mirror again. But this time it was more concentrated in a single streamlined, and much darker purple, with hints of navy.

"Sammy." he harshly whispered. "Sammy let's go."

When Darren turned back to where the mirror and person had been, he was in shock. Everything had disappeared. The ornate mirror, the fog, everything.

"Let's go home, Sammy…" he said with bewilderment, running off back to the path and back home. Sammy followed along quickly, barking occasionally.

Darren got back to his house pretty quickly, is that he ran the entire way.

"Woah, little bro, what happened? Pack of girls chases you in the woods?" Adonis said, stopping him as he ran in the back door of his house. "First time I've seen you run like that in a long time-"

"Don't tease me, Adonis. I wouldn't run away from a group of girls, anyway, I'd just say "I'm gay" and they'd go away from me." He smirked, trying desperately to forget what he just saw.

"Mhmm. Whatever." Adonis rolled his eyes. "But you ok?"

"Had a race with Sammy on my way back." Darren lied and got a bottle of water out of their fridge. "Dad headed home, yet?"

"Said he was going out with April but would try to be home before ten."

"Alright. You leaving soon?"

"Kacey and their girlfriend Renae are coming to pick me up."

"What about Hannah? She comes home for the weekend?"

Adonis shook his head. "Nah. Had some drama rehearsal or something. Sound and lights crew."

"Sounds good. Lock the door on your way out, will you?"

"Yeah, where are you going?" He asked as Darren ran up the stairs to his room.

"Lots of homework to do, sorry. Text me when you get back."

Adonis, while confused, brushed it off. Darren rarely did his homework.

What he didn't know, though, is that Darren wasn't doing his homework. He was up there sketching the mirror and the woman he had seen in the woods. There was something about the fog that was eerily creepy, and he was going to find out what it meant.


End file.
